Electric furnace



March 25, 1930. A. E. GREENE 1,751,913

ELECTRIC FURNACE Filed Feb. 8, 1927 Fig.].

F'Zz' 5.

' INVENTOR QIBer-"l' E.Gre,ene

BY Em m. W

H 15 A'lTORNEY6 j Patented Mar. .25. 1930,

' ALBERT E. GREENE, OF MEDINA, WASHINGTON I ELECTRIC FURNACE Application filed february a, 1927. Serial no. 186,676.

My present invention relates to electric arc furnace apparatus and especially to the construction of the mechanical parts of the furnace proper and to the electrode mechanism and the electrode contact details. 0

My resent application is a continuation 1n part of my applications Serial Numbers, 279,- 776 filed Feb. 28, 1919, and623,036 filed March 3 1923.

1b In my applications of which the present is a continuation in part, I showed certain electrode holderimprovements. These included the structure of the electrode contacts in which a watercooled contact is provided with an upper lug with holes in it and copper conductor cables brazed or welded into these holes. This construction provides a means for carrying the current in a cable direct to the contact lug without the necessity of bolted oints along the electrode holder arm. It also provides for a welded or brazed joint on the contact member so that the heat will not affect this connection. The construction provides for carrying the cables along the electrode holder arm and for mounting them on the arm or on the trolley member which carries the arm, using insulating clamps for this purpose. 7 r

In the building of these electrode holder 3 parts I have also made further improvements over those in my early application. I have provided a special construction of trolley side which serves to hold and support the arm proper, the latter, consisting preferably of a pipe, being bolted between the trolley sides. This construction allows for the movement of the arm as claimed in my earlier application and for the use of the eccentrically mounted .rollers to adjust the trolley and arm positions.

I have made an improved arm end member which is'provided with a laterally extending slot, that is a slot at right angles to the axis of the arm, this slot being placed in the top 'of the arm end member and I have provided an. other such slot in the front vertical plane surface of this same member. These slots permit the insulated bolts to pass thru them, and also permit an adjustment of the clamp meme 50 her laterally with respect to the arm end memher. a This improved construction provides means for adjusting the position of the electrode axis to one side or the other of the arm axis and is a modified form of my invention claimed in my earlier applications. This arm end member is provided with portions which slide over the end of the pipe arm and which have bolts for clamping the arm end member in adjusted position.

These above features and others will now be described with regard to the annexed drawings. a I

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation view of an improved electrode holder mechanism and contact embodying m invention.

2 is a plan view 0 the apparatus of 1g.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the arm end shown in Fig. 1, and embodying my invention.

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation view of the improved electrode contact shown in Fig. 1 and embodying my invention.

In the drawings, I have shown a trolley which operates on a vertical mast member 1, which may be an I-beam for example. The trolley comprises a main side plate member indicated at 2 on one side of the mast and another, side member 3 on the opposite side. These may be cast in one piece or bolted to- .gether. Rollers are provided and operate on shafts shown at 4, 5, 6 and 7, the rollers being shown at 8 and 9 in the plan view of Fig. 2. These rollers have flanges as shown and the rollers may be mounted with washers between them and the side late on one side in order to adjust the 0S1t10I1' of the roller on the axis of the shaflz Also the shafts may be eccentrically mounted so that the roller axes are eccentric of the shaft pins extending thru the trolley sides, in accordance with the invention of my earlier application.

The trolley sides have extensions indicated at 10 and 11 which serve to hold a pipe arm 12 between them, and bolts serve to hold the sides 10 and 11 together. These bolts are indicated at 13, 14, 15 and 16. A cable is clamped around bolt 15 and'serves to raise .and lower the electrode holder along the mast. The pipe arm 12 is held at one end in the trolley side members and at the other clamped around the pipe arm in the same manner as indicated at 10 by.bo1ts like that at 18.

The arm end member 17 slips over the pipe 12 and may be adjusted in its position into or out'from the mast and held in adjusted position. This arm end member is provided with a slot in its top flat surface mdicated at 19 and another slot in its vertical fiat front surface indicated at 20. Thru these two slots go the insulated bolts 21 and 22 which hold the clamp member 23 against the insulating plates between it and the arm end. These insulating plates, .which may be of asbestos wood for example, are shown at 24 and 25. This construction of arm end with the slots provides for adjustment of the clamp to either side of the arm axis so that the position of the electrode may be thus shifted. Likewise the angle of the electrodewith the vertical may be adjusted by movement of the arm-0nd around the pipe.

The clamp member 23 and the hinge member 23 serve to hold two contacts, 26 and 27 shown in Fig. 2 against the electrode 29. These contacts are preferablymade 'ofcast copper and are shown in section in Fig. 4. The inner contacting surface 1s shown at 30. and the entrance to the water cooling cavity at 28. Each contact has a lug extending upwardly with "two holes which are for the copper cable to enter and be brazed or, welded in. These holes are shown at 31 I in Fig. 4 and the cables 32 and 33 are shownin place in the lugs in Fig. 1. The bolt 34 serves to hold the clamping members against the contacts. The flexible cables, shown with an insulating covering, are held in place In an insulating member 35 mounted on the trolley side, andcables from the other contact 26 are also provided. The lugs may have more or less holes than the two shown for more or fewer cables.

The angle of the electrode with the mast may be adjusted by shims under the insulatifig plates 24 and 25or by adjustment of the A eccentric shafts on the trolley.

I do not limit myself to the use of single piece masts such as vertical I-beams but may use other constructions, such for example as two channels facing each other and then I may mount the rollers inside the channels engaging the inner front and back surfaces and I may provide the eccentricadjustment of these rollers as described with regard to the rollers of Fig. 1. In such case the upper rollers would engage the front inside surfaces of the opposing channels and the lower rollers would engage the back inner surfaces and I'may provide other adjusting rollers inside or outside the channels to adjust the position of the trolley member. 7

'Wh'atIclaim is: 1. An electric furnace electrode mechanism comprising an electrode holding arm trode, and means for lateral adjustment of" j the position of said clamping member with respect to-the axisof said arm.

2. An electrode mechanism comprising a vertically adjustable arm, an arm end mem-- her, a clamping member mounted thereon and means for shifting the position of the clamping member horizontally to. one side or the other of the horizontal axis of the said arm and for holding the clamping member' in the adjusted position.

3. An electrode'clamping mechanism comprising a clamping member mounted on the end of a horizontal arm but insulated therefrom and having means for lateral adjustment in a horizontal plane to move the axis of a vertical electrode held thereby to the one hand orthe other of the axis of the arm.

4. In combination, an electric furnace electrode clamping mechanism, comprising an adjustable arm movable vertically, an arm end member having a-surface for electrical insulating material to abut,'a clamping memclamping member and holding it in such position against the insulation.

-5..An electrode holding mechanism, comprisin a supporting member having an outer at surface, electrical insulation against said surface and between, it and an electrode holding member, insulated bolts holding the two separate members against the electrical insulation and against each other with the insulation between, and slotted holes for adjustment of the position of the electrode holding member serving for adjustment of the electrode axis with respect to the supporting member.

6. An electrode holding mechanism comprising an adjustable arm, an arm end memer thereon, slotted holes inthe surface of said member, an electrode clamping member held against insulation between it and said arm end member and insulated bolts for holding the latter clamping member inadjusted position. a

7. In an electric furnace, an electrode su porting arm, a clamp supporting member a justably mounted on said arm adjacent an end thereof, and an electrode clamp adjust- ?)bly mounted on said clamp supporting mem- 8. In an electric furnace, an electrode supporting arm, a clamp supporting member adj ustably mounted on said arm and movable longitudinally thereof, and an electrode clamp adjustably mounted on said clamp suptransversely of electrode sup- 7 ALBERT E. GREENE. 

